Opportunity Has Come A Knocking

No coffee yet (surprised the Spouse by rolling out of bed at 7:30 on a Sunday--before he had time to wrangle the beans), dogs breakfasting for music (ah, kibble). So why am I up so early on a Sunday--especially a Sunday after a festival? I am up because it is a very cold morning (I am not heating the upstairs yet this fall and with our bedroom door closed our room hits refrigerator temps) and Dave already got up--taking half of the warmth with him. He did cover me with a down comforter from the closet before he went downstairs, but by then the sun streaming in the bathroom window and my whirring mind had prodded me fully awake

All through the day yesterday people asked me how the show was going, was I doing well. It's an indication of my mindset that every time I was asked, I didn't know what to say and stumbled out a meaningless "good" or a more honest (and puzzling to the questioner) "interesting". Why such difficulty with such an innocuous question? The question means is the show living up to your expectations, are you getting what you wanted to out of it--in short (usually) are you making a lot of money. For both professional and hobbyist artisans the main reason to do a show is to sell the work, i.e., make money. We're usually not just out there to have a good time. I don't know about the rest of you (except Ren, I think this is true for her too), but I have a good time by sleeping in, not by doing shows.

This morning as I lay pondering and puzzling (and shivering) in bed, I realized the reason I had such difficulty with the how's-it-going question was because I never thought of the Waldorf holiday fair/artist market as a show-as-usual and so I hadn't actually set goals. I hoped for good sales, but I didn't expect them. What I ended up getting from the show was ultimately more valuable and more exciting to me than one-time sales would have been (though sales were okay too), and because I hadn't planned or even thought about getting it (what I got), the way it played out really was "interesting", intriguing, and inspirational enough to motivate me out of bed and onto laptop this morning.

So what did I get?!? (you ask in exasperation--stop dancing around and spill it!) I got ideas for 2-3 for new business directions. Add this to the new collaboration I formed on Thursday and 2009 is shaping up to be a very motivational, expansive year! Tomorrow I'll detail the collaboration, and Tuesday I'll write about the business ventures after I've had a bit of time to flesh them out further. Now the day is over and it's time to Race For the Galaxy against my spouse while J plays Monopoly with Gramma.