To Booth or Not to Booth

One thing I’ve learned since starting my own business is that things don’t always go as you want or expect.  Several months ago, I signed up to sell my products in a booth at a local Saturday market, similar to a farmer’s market.  I thought if I could sell a couple thousand dollars in products at this booth or get some good contacts from it, or even if the blog got a bunch of new followers, it would be well worth it. 

So I paid for the booth space, and ordered banners, and bought tables, I was about $500 into it by the time I setup that Saturday Morning.  I spent all day there, some of our boys spent half of the day with me, and I learned a lot.  Mostly I learned that selling and trying to make contacts at a market like that does not work well for my business.  Now, if I had been selling food or clothes, I would have done rather well, but in the end I sold $66 worth of product, got no good contacts, and only got 2 new followers on Instagram, from those selling at nearby booths.

Am I sad that I went?  No, I’m not.  There are things that we learn when we put ourselves out there and try to grow ourselves.  If we are constantly filtering everything we do and only doing those things that are proven, we may never achieve the level of growth that we are meant to.  It is often the step in the dark that shows us we are on the wrong path and need to change course.  Part of learning and growing is experiencing those things that don’t work like we want.  I believe that those experiences bring more wisdom and understanding than do the successes.