Good morning, Gents!

A collage of some of my best pieces from the last 3 years. 

I left my first location this week. 13 months & 0 sales. I think it's because there was too much cheap competition & it was a one horse, rural town. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? At least I know now. And I'm sure not all rural towns are like that, but probably the one horse ones are. If out of 10 places, I found a dud, those are pretty good odds. 

On the other hand, you may remember the F ICE, F TRUMP owner of the business that I expanded in at the first of the year, hoping to increase my sales from monthly to weekly. That worked perfectly this first quarter! And in December, I went into another location that had made 0 sales in the first 6 months & switched things around. They've made quite a few sales since. Sometimes you have to experiment, try out new ideas, & find out what the local clientele likes.

The result of this has been that these places are now competing with my better selling places this quarter, which has been unexpected, because it's normal for there to be a lull in sales between Christmas & Mother's Day, & my better selling places have gone through this lull predictably, but these other places haven't, which is very unexpected. My overall sales are better because of this. But again, you just have to try out new ideas & keep what works & let go of what doesn't. And be willing to take chances. 

Speaking of taking chances, after I'm done talking with you fine people, I'm going to email a winery to see if he would be interested in selling my merchandise. I've never been in a winery before, so I have no idea what to expect. Maybe it will be a good fit & maybe it won't, but until I try, I won't know. Currently, I'm in 2 bookstores, a coffee shop, 2 flower coffee shops, a bakery, an art store, a garden center, & a gift store, lol. The place I left was also a gift store. Owners like talking to me about all the other places I'm in, because apparently artists don't typically have their work in many places or as wide a variety of places. Kinda funny, because that seems logical to me, so I assumed everyone was doing that, but everyone tells me that I'm unique. 

Speaking again of taking chances, the coffee shop has new owners, so I'm going to try to expand my products in that location to see if I can increase my sales there from monthly to weekly. It worked last time, maybe it'll work again. And see if I can get into their 2 other locations. Once again, I won't know if I don't try.

Ultimately, my goal is to make this my full time job. So, if that doesn't work, then have I failed? Am I a failure? Strictly speaking, yes, but I think that's a simple label for a nuanced situation. I'm not even sure this is possible. So, it would be similar to us being unable to dive to the bottom of the ocean on one breath of air or jumping from our front yard to the moon. Every single person is a failure when it comes to either, yet no one is losing any sleep regarding those realities. You're actually more foolish to attempt it than to fail at it. This endeavor may not be achievable, but the goals have continually changed in this experience. First it was to see if my artwork was good enough to sell. I thought it was, but I needed to test that theory. That question was answered pretty quickly. Then, I wanted to see if it would sell in stores. That question was answered (well, 9 out of 10 anyway). So, then I wanted to see if this hobby would pay for itself. It has & even become a part time job. So, is it possible to do this for a living? I won't know if I don't try (I know, I keep saying that, which brings me to my next point).

It's possible that my brain is wired differently. I don't see this as a success/failure situation, but a question that needs answered or a puzzle that needs to be solved. In fact, if you saddle me with an expectation to succeed, I'll always concede failure...........always...........so I can be free of the expectation to explore the question & live the adventure, because the expectation gets in my way.

I have never cared about society's standards or expectations, because I'm better than society. Wow, that's pretty arrogant to say, but then again, I am arrogant (have we met). I make no apologies. Anyone ever been held back a grade in school? Anyone ever been held back in kindergarten? When I was 5, it was discovered that I was ambidextrous. Teachers noted that when I grew tired of using one hand, either physically or mentally (bored), I simply switched hands. It was apparently too much for them to handle, so they forced me to choose a hand & undergo tests, classes, & training to use that one hand. So, in order to conform to society's standard, they had to dumb me down, essentially. This has been a theme in my life from a very early age. How do you take seriously a society that seems to need to hold you back in order to function? Consequently, I can't take standards & expectations or society seriously, & it's hard not to see myself as superior (you're incapable of dealing with a 5 year old who can use both hands equally well, lol). 

Not to mention that I'm not deluded into thinking that I'm only the sum of my parts or contributions. We are so much more. I am absolutely not defined by my job. That's laughable. It's a means to an end. We are much more than what we earn or accomplish. No matter what glass society uses to contain us, we'll ALWAYS overflow it, because it will always be inadequate & we will ALWAYS be more. 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt