Beyond the Obvious

This last weekend I was at the Mane Event Horse Show in Red Deer. It's a long-hour, 3-day event that is very much worth my while and energy to go to. I have noticed that since my Prosperity course (and Rock Your Prosperity Weekend in Denver) I am going into my shows much more relaxed than before. What's typical for me is to be in a feather flying frenzy about whether I have enough stock, however this show I went in with "meh, if I sell out, I sell out and that is a good thing." I must say that my inner dragon came out for a stretch and a fire-breathing roar when I arrived Thursday to set up and found that someone was set up in my booth. Yes mistakes can be made but when the guy (and his wife/partner/whatever) belligerently insisted that it was his booth and that he was in that space last year that my dragon took flight. Try again Buckwheat, your memory and facts are off. I don't back down easily especially when my booth is a corner, his is inline, and yes I was in that spot last year. I pulled in the show organizers to settle the mess and he moved/was moved into his assigned inline booth spot.

The show was slower than last year, my sales were a bit lower, and if I stopped there I would not be seeing the whole picture. I did a wholesale sale (24 heart pendants, wahoo!) to a lady who is a vendor at the dog shows, a market I don't want to do myself, but entry via her is a yippee!! Plus I was scouted by 2 new venues (a racetrack and a horseback cancer ride windup) so the potential is there. Also I  paid attention to who (as in characteristic traits) were purchasing, vital information for my Target Tribe. Moral of the story: wider field of view yields a much clearer and larger picture.

I did have an unexpected cool story relayed to me about one of my pieces that I am thrilled about. A lady looked at my "charms" (set of western charms with a glass drop to hang on purse, saddle, bag, wherever) and said "that's where they came from!!" She told me that she bought a saddle from a friend and found that it had one of my charms on it and didn't know the significance or where it came from. I told her the story of the origin of the charms as to how they were a participant prize for the Thorsby PeeWee Barrel Racing club and I expanded on the idea. Now that she knows the story she ordered 3 for her kids of colors that I didn't have in stock on my table. Guess I better keep making those.

As for my training numbers, the only ones that increase during a show like this are my mileage and visualizations. It helped that Dennis parked the RV in the row farthest away from the door so it was a nice walk and break away from my booth. I love traveling turtle-style (house on back) as I sleep in comfort, don't have to unpack when I get there (booth is enough) and I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat or if there is food I can eat (do fries count?). Plus, it's a cost-saving method. As for my numbers, it's not only what I do in response to the lull that's the important point it's the attitude as to how I respond. Do I frantically pound off a pile to catch up or do I keep my daily pace training mindfully? I choose the latter as the whole point, for me, is to overall progress forward and to learn in the process.
Sherri Donohue