A possible explanation for why I went to Connecticon

[nancylebov]

Some months ago, I met an old woman who was very satisfied with how her life had turned out. She was funding her retirement with income from rental properties, and her motto was "Bite off more than you can chew, and then chew it." She repeated it a number of times forcefully. Since I'm concerned with my finances, I thought that maybe she had a point.

There were a few questions I should have thought about--how much more than she thought she could chew did she bite off? Did she have fall-back plans? How did she choose which larger-than-usual projects to take on? Unfortunately, I don't have any way to contact her.

As nearly as I can tell, I shut down my intuition( one of my more reliable faculties) because I wanted to try something bigger than usual that looked as though it would be profitable. On the other hand, going to Connecticon wasn't an obviously bad idea and I might have done it anyway--it just didn't work.

This doesn't mean I think my mistake was her fault, only that I need to be careful about advice. Even if it fits into someone else's life, it might not fit into mine.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

Or it might. If you never screw up, you're being far too cautious.

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Listening to your intuition is a good thing, and I see where you are coming from. On the other hand, perhaps your in the chewing it phase of biting of more than you can chew? The wholesale thing could still pan out, people who saw you there might order later via the website, you have some new experience and insight into what to do and what not to do? Or a step in the direction of daring more *whilst* fully engaging your intuition?

I tend to do the biting more of then I can chew and then chewing it too thing too, though I tend to think of it as commiting to swimming the distance by jumping in. Sometimes I do remarkable things, sometimes I fall rather hard. For me the most important thing is to choose the thing I bite of carefully. It has to be something I'm fired up about, or I won't swim hard enough, i.e. won't come up with creative enough solutions if things don't go quite as I expected.

[laughing-fox.livejournal.com]

i read somewhere that successful business people don't always win. They just don't let losing stop them from trying. They also always have more than one project in the works. So I wouldn't let one bad con get you down. Maybe you can plan going to a big con in the middle of some smaller/local events you have done well with in the past, as a safety net to make sure you don't run low on funds. Maybe also brainstorm on other possible markets. And network, network... I'm sure you already do, but always talk to the other merchants about events they've done well at. And to fish for possible partnerships if they have a store.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Sucessful businesspeople certainly don't always win--I just wasn't expecting anything like a loss on this scale. There's subsidiary damage I didn't mention--a couple of resellers who would have liked to have gotten more buttons for conventions which are now past and some help that might not be available in the nearish future because it got used up on Connecticon.

I've contacted a comics store owner I met at who was definitely interested in buttons. There might be some custom bulk sticker orders and button orders from other people.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'm working on being able to work harder/more consistantly--I'll be ljing about it in another post. However, that wasn't the problem this time. There wasn't anything more I could have reasonably done which would have led to better results though there's more I could have done to have been better and more tidily prepared. I probably should have used the new button trays and sent the old ones to Shore Leave. There just wasn't much money floating around loose at the convention.

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

I have a button from you that says "Oh no, not another learning experience!" I think that definitely applies here :)

Tam and I had a similar experience a few years ago (2000?) at Philcon. After a somewhat-successful art show at Boskone, we thought of expanding her market. With much difficulty and expense we transported ourselves and a bunch of artwork to Philcon. Total disaster. Not only did nothing sell, there was so little free cash floating around that in the entire art show only 13 pieces sold. We definitely learned from that one...

[zenlizard]

Beware strange lizards offering unsolicited advice.

Entrepreneurs

[anniemal.livejournal.com]

Short form. Mom started pet business. Business spreads out more than daughter/manager is comfortable with. Mom poo-poos. Daughter proves right. Business shrinks to manageable levels. Local economy booms, then tanks. Business dribbles out, Mom gets allergies and can't do it anymore. Business proves unsalable. Mom moves to Arizona. Daughter fills in her income gaps. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't good.

Mom just bought a job lot of flannel shorts, polar fleece hats, and misc. fleece on ebay for $1500. She's taking her van from Tucson to somewhere in Kentucky to pick it up. We discussed it for hours. The money I just sent her was for dental work.

It's her loan. Good entrepeneurs never stop trying something different. I was right about the fake planter catboxes in our economy, though.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I think you've drawn the right moral from your experience. Advice can be useful--when it provokes you into looking at factors you've been ignoring, for example. But advice that clashes with your life should be examined very, very, carefully before taking.