Barbara Winter who writes a terrific blog about supporting yourself as an entrepreneur had a great post the other day, "
Blase is not a Power Tool". It's worthwhile to read her whole piece. She mentioned a quote from Winston Churchill that struck me as appropriate for this week and this business. " Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm."
I stopped by the Garrison Art Center Fine Art and Craft Fair over the weekend. It's a show I've done for many years and have always loved . My back problems kept me from doing it this year, but I enjoyed just visiting for an afternoon. Chatting with vendors whom I've known for some time, and meeting some of our new team members, we discussed how the show was going. Most said there were plenty of people but that sales were down. But there was no grousing. One man said this was the first show he's done this summer that the weather was so good - he's experienced high winds, torrential rains. But he showed me pictures he's taken of some sights in this area that he plans to draw and turn into future offerings. Other long time jewelers said that while this show was down, they hoped the one next weekend would bring them back up to where they need to be. In the meantime they're thinking of other ways they can boost their sales, increasing variety of products, considering online sales. Some people who were first timers were pleased with the responses they were getting from visitors and anticipate that that may translate into sales down the road as people get to know them. Everyone mentioned how much they love this gorgeous location on the Hudson River, how friendly the other vendors are.
This particular show certainly didn't qualify as a failure. But I've known several of these folks to experience real failures before getting here - not even making booth fees, putting up with unhelpful organizers, disastrous weather. And yet here they are; they smile, they're generous with their neighbors, they're eager to go on to the next thing, they're coming up with new ideas. They are full of enthusiasm. It seems to me that they are successful.
Have you had shows that you'd classify as failures? What helps you keep up your enthusiasm when situations don't match your expectations?
4 comments:
What keeps me going is the anticipation of the next show being better, or the call from the person who saw your work at the show. The camaraderie of doing shows.
Great post Becky, thank you.
I take every show as a learning experience whether it's a success or not. What keeps me going is that I always gain something from each event whether it's apparent or happens somewhere down the line. Someone may remember me from taking a card, or just remember the name and look it up later. Thanks Becky!
I had people from last year come and find me... this show, while financially wasn't great, was a pleasure to do. It has such a nice vibe, and the coordinators were fantastic. I'm sure I'll make it up with the next few shows I'm doing.
I agree with Marilyn that every show has some kind of learning experience, whether it's a new idea for how to present my work, just observing how people interact with my display,or meeting other people and seeing what their crafts are all about.
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