Failure or opportunity?

Sep 8

As an entrepreneur, small business owner, artist and mom- failure is not an option. Opportunity, on the other hand, is around every corner. With this, there is a lot of pressure. Here’s how I maintain a largely positive attitude in the face of adversity:

Success Measurements

What, exactly, is a successful market?

Networking leads
Advertising time
Fun experiences
Making money, of course!
Future commission interest
Invites to other markets
Building community with other small business owners

What, exactly, is an unsuccessful market?

The fee to set up is higher than what I make

I rarely encounter an unsuccessful market. Even those have glimmers of success if I look hard enough.

Money is not everything. Experience is the most valuable asset.

Getting out of this measure of success being a dollar amount puts me in a place of upward momentum that can catapult me into bigger and better things for my business.

Keep learning

The words “I don’t know” are scary to me. Will the market be lucrative? Will it be worth my time? Will people like my art?

The deeper I dive into this self-employment adventure, the more I live in the world of the unknown and unknowable. It is uncomfortable. It makes me uneasy. It makes me anxious and nervous as hell.

And I learn something new at every opportunity. I make each event count. How can I grow? How can I change? What worked? What didn’t work?

Keep learning.

Help others

At every event, I am looking for a way to help someone else contribute to their own success and support another local small business. Especially if I feel my wallet is light and bank account empty, I try to buy something from a neighboring vendor. To me, it’s good karma.

In that spirit, I have built this Small Business Resources for you!