Failure Is Not Black and White

If you have been with me for a while, you know my goal for last year was to stop being a chicken.

You see, I had this dream, for a long time, but I was frozen by the “what ifs” and how to’s.

It really wasn’t anything too revolutionary, except that it could lead to failure.

Failure, such an ugly word,

such a scary word.

But I did it anyway, I had my first home sale – selling a mixture of vintage and new items. You can read all about it here.

How did it go, it went alright. You can read about that here.

My motto after that sale became this…

I moved forward and I had another sale that you can read about here.

That one went just okay too.

But then, I had another opportunity that I never really had a chance to tell you about.

I know, Christmas is over and we are over looking at pictures of it.

But, will you bear with me through just a few?

Locally, there are two wonderful gentlemen who hold a fabulous home sale every year. They have been doing so for about 12 years (I think) and I have been going for about 5 years. (I took pictures of them, but unfortunately they came out really blurry.) Over the last year or so, I have gotten to know them outside of the “sale” world as well.

This year, I had the opportunity to participate in their sale.

They represent a group of very talented vendors and artists who sell their goods in their home.

As you can see from the pictures, they turn over their whole home and set it up in a retail setting. There is a lot of Christmas decor and gifts as well.

No only do they set up their home, they set up their garage as well.

Have you ever seen such a beautiful garage?

So, why do I share this now?

Because being part of this sale was quite a learning experience for me.

They have many years into this type of sale, they have a huge following and their timing is perfect (two weeks after Thanksgiving). Not to mention they are masters at pulling it all together beautifully yet still making it feel like a home.

They have a ton of traffic move through on a weekend when people are ready to start buying gifts and decorate their homes.

So, why would I try to reinvent the wheel?

So, my plan for this year,

I will still have one sale in the Spring – still try to make my own way.

But instead of a fall sale, I will have the opportunity to participate in this sale again. This is a great opportunity for me and I am very excited for it. My participation this time was on a small scale without much planning on my part. I now have all year to prepare - lets hope I use it!

As I result of all this, I am learning that failure is not black and white.

There is not only total failure and terrific success.

There is a lot of variations in between.

I never would have reached this opportunity if I didn’t put myself out there, at least try.

I found this great quote a few weeks after my last sale and it has entertained me.

So, I thought I would share it with all of you.

See how many more things I can screw up before I should consider it failure?

I guess success is not black and white either.

I feel successful in still moving forward, still finding my journey.

And still appreciative that you are will to join me.

Thanks for reading.