Thank you for your kind comments and tweets about yesterday's post on my definition of success. I kept it light b/c I don't want these posts to turn into a Comp 101 or Philosophy 101 class. Please know, though, that my curt summarizations are the result of (too much) thinking, analyzing, doing, struggling and soulsearching - I am not sharing the depth of my experiences b/c I don't want to bore you to tears or give you the impression that I'm an authority on the subject. Your experiences, values, desires and talents will guide you in a unique way to your own definition of success. Once you establish what that vision looks like, then you need to reverse engineer that sucker and figure out a way to bring it to life! And add a good dose of patience to your master plan!
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From definition to mission.
After I wrote my success post for Scoutie Girl, I promptly put pen to paper and wrote a Mission Statement for Daisy Janie. My clarity at that moment was unrivaled, and it felt so freakin good to put something down. Big whoop you say? You're right...anyone who's been in business for 10 years should have something written down. The big whoop is that I've resisted, held out, recoiled and bucked at the very thought of cementing my intentions in writing, which (to me) would have meant pigeonholing my creative self and thereby limiting my options. My business decisions were guided by the Magic 4 in my definition of success (thanks for the phrasing, Betz). As I stated yesterday, at no previous point in my career was I meeting all 4 of these basic reqs at one time. For that reason, I was unwilling to draw a line in the sand and say, "This is it! This is what I will do!" Doing so prematurely would have meant settling for a life that would have been contrary to my value system and all that I hold dear. To underscore this point, I stopped taking money hand-over-fist a few years ago for something I couldn't put my name behind any longer. I was earning a nice income, but I felt pretty shitty at the end of the day. Instead, I took a part-time job to regroup and rechart my course.
"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
~ Albert Einstein
At the core of my definition of success is producing and manufacturing items that allow Daisy Janie to be a good steward of the earth, primarily b/c that's how I live my life and my business is an extension of that. My wholesale collections of organic fabrics will allow me to make a significant contribution to multi-billion dollar industry that needs more eco-friendly options.
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~ Maltbie Babcock, from "Thoughts for Everyday Living"
Judging an opportunity as it relates to my freshly penned mission.
What does this quote mean to you? Does it apply to you, your life, a mindset you'd like to adopt, anything at all? I love the entire kit & caboodle. I am a glass-half-full kind of girl, so, on the whole, this is a delish spoonful of optimistic nourishment. (It's dishware reference day, didn't you know?)
For today, though, I'm really focusing on just the first sentence: "Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them." Gah! I flipped out when I read it! Maltbie's use of the word "values" might be referring to the significance of an opp, as in heavy & important or light & frivolous, but I'm going to use the word values to denote the moral fiber of an opp. Wha? Do opportunities have moral fibers? No...but we do! And since I added a healthy dose of my personal values to my mission statement, my business has moral fiber, too. It's through this lens that all current and future opportunities presented to Daisy Janie will have to be viewed.
Opportunity knocked & I had to say no.
Last week, to my complete surprise & joy, I received an incredible licensing offer from a company entering the quilting fabrics' market. They narrowed their search from 18 designers down to 4, and I was lucky enough to be amongst the 4. That in itself is something of which I'm immensely proud.
Unfortunately, I had to say no. Why? What's the catch? The catch is that they're producing fabrics from conventionally grown cotton, not organically grown like mine. I tried like hell to sway the owner, thinking of it as a victory for Mother Nature and me! He was quite interested and willing to hear me out but decided he couldn't do it for a few reasons. Bummer! As much as I would have loved the add'l source of income and the camaraderie of working more closely with other designers (2 of the others are women I know!), I had to politely decline. Let me tell ya, that was a hard, hard day - yet it solidified everything I finally had the guts to resolutely write down about myself and my business.
Sometimes, saying no to one thing means, by default, you've said yes to another. Right now, I'm embracing what I've said yes to: strictly eco-friendly materials and production for anything upon which Daisy Janie puts its name. There's no perfect recipe for being 'green' in business, but I have to at least try. Striving to be of value, like Einstein suggested, is important to me, and I believe it will ultimately lead to realized success. Or maybe success is just simply doing something of value (do you think Einstein had a mortgage to pay?).
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Thanks for reading. I've been pretty open about my business journey over the years, and this little bit of transparency will go a long way toward emotional resolve for me! And hopefully, you've gleaned a few things that might help you on your path to success, too!
