I’m back from an eventful week at a wholesale show and almost another week of upper respiratory gack that laid me low. Getting back to work is still the farthest thing from my mind, though Monday morning is now only hours away...
The show was its usual mix of ups and downs. It’s not really a show that targets my audience, but I’ve done it twice for a variety of reasons—low threshold costs (it’s a group booth), local show, excellent contacts, and this year, just enough sales to pay for itself and enough leads to possibly make it a good venture. Downsides are the increased stress from doing a group booth, the huge amount of time spent preparing and doing the show, unexpected personal issues and of course, coming home with a whopping virus. And it doesn't really support my major goal of targeting a midwestern/western/southwestern audience.
As I weighed the pros and cons in my mind the last few days, I wish there were a simple chart we could fill out to evaluate these situations in life. When do you decide to drop a show? Drop a lead? Drop an account? Drop a friendship?
I’m realizing that the perfect time to move on is when I still recognize the good things that have come from something, and before all the bad things overshadow them.
One of the perks of being an artist is, our success is not locked into one particular show or gallery. One sale or one account will not make or break us. Once you truly understand that success—whether professional, financial or personal success—is achieved by a SERIES of tiny, almost daily choices, all of which support your vision, you begin to live freer.
Then you realize that the same process applies to your life, whether you are an artist or not. The same daily choices determine the kind of life you want to live and the kind of person you want to be. These same principals determine your relationships with your family, your friends, your peers, your customers—everyone.
We only have so much time and energy in our lives. Perhaps we do have unlimited love and forgiveness, at least I’d like to think so. But we do not have unlimited time and energy.
Look at your relationships as you would other aspects of your business. Not with a cold eye to investment and return, but with acknowledgement that what we chose to put in our life is what we will be surrounded with. We choose what we build by the materials we use.
Lately I’m realizing I’ve chosen some very dramatic, flamboyant relationships that I mistook for authenticity and passion. I’m discovering some of my professional relationships are not as reciprocal as I’d thought. Is it my fault? Is it theirs? I spent a lot of energy trying to untangle the threads.
But today I realize what’s important is simply that I can choose to give these relationships more energy—or I can simply step back a little. I can see if they come into balance by themselves, or if they are unsustainable. I can choose.
And by doing so, I can hold onto the valuable and good things that came from them, before being overwhelmed by the disappointment and anger.
Time to move on.
