Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Success
I am very afraid of it, and it paralyzes me. I am very talented and make these amazing things with the intention of selling them, but just don't believe in my work enough or feel comfortable selling anything. How do I get over that? I spent my last $100 on hula hoop supplies and now am sitting here with all these hoops! I have done this with many ventures. There is some invisible barrier to my success. What is it?
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3 comments:
i have pondered this one, but i don't have answers... for me, getting going in selling stuff has been a very uphill climb. a few times along my path with it i can point to and remember feeling like i had gotten past some sort of barrier. choosing my business name really helped me out, but it was HARD to do! even just that step, i felt "unqualified" to do... i can name a human being, but not a business? wha? my first farmers market ever, i showed up thinking my stuff was such crap, and my friend who was doing market with me (selling her own stuff) looked at one of my diapers and was apparently blown away by how professional they looked- it is so hard to be objective about your own work!!!!
Your diapers absolutely rock! You should see me trying to squeeze Jai into them still LOL. Actually, she is such a chunk that I am using Eli's old diapers!!! And you k ow what a tank he was -- Jai can wear them loosely on the tightest setting. I love your diapers, though -- I wanna keep them instead of pass them on :) The craftsmanship is amazing!!!! I lost faith in my diapers once I tried a PUL one and realized how nice it was to not have the leaks I was so accustomed to with my own. I was so sensitive to hearing what people thought, and no one praised me for them! So, I thought they weren't good. Now, with these hula hoops, I feel like they aren't as good as other people's. No one is making as big of a deal of them as I think they are! The hard part is that I thought of drastically reducing the price, just so I would feel good about selling them, but I almost HAVE to sell them for the same price as the more experienced hoop-makers do, because my costs are so high, since I didn't buy in bulk. Maybe I will just do it to move them and see how I feel later? I dunno...
that is the hardest thing- trying to trust your own judgment of how "good" your stuff is, rather than basing it on what peoples' reactions are. it's really hard not only when people fail to make compliments but when they have criticisms?! oh boy. it's hard to hold my head up and know in myself that i did good work, and that i asked a fair price and i'm sticking with that price. i know what i put into it (it is NOT just the materials! your time and effort and creativity are also a part of that price tag!!!) it's also very hard not to "react" when someone has criticism for my stuff- i have been trying to validate that it was their truth, their experience does not have to be the same as mine, for mine to be valid. kwim? (rather than needing to justify why/how i came to the conclusion that this price was fair or that item was well made...) all i can say is i support you any way i know how, with finding it within you to feel good about your "goods". someone is always going to walk up and point out when i have a crooked seam, no matter how straight all of my seams are... (it happened last week!) and so it is a journey, and not an easy one.... anyway.... love to you! it's a tough process.
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